Virat Kohli in action© AFP
Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav batted beautifully in India’s chase of 187 in the third T20I against Australia in Hyderabad on Sunday. Even after the latter fell for a destructive 69, Kohli hit a pristine six off Pat Cummins and it looked like he and Hardik Pandya would take India home comfortably. However, Australia applied the pressure and the match went to the final over with India needing 11 off the last six balls. Kohli hit a six off the first delivery of the 20th over to take the pressure off but fell the very next delivery. Hardik, however, ensured India won the match with one ball to spare.
Speaking after the match, Kohli admitted that the match only went that deep because he was unable to connect with a few shots after Suryakumar’s dismissal and said that the game should not have gone on that long.
“You spoke about the last over. It was kind of that situation because of me not being able to connect a few before that. The game shouldn’t have gone on that long and we should have probably (had) 4 or 5 to chase in the last over and not 11,” Kohli said.
“So it was important to maintain my composure and get one boundary at least for the team and I was able to do so and I am grateful for that,” he added.
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Kohli finished with 63 off 48 deliveries, his 33rd half-century in T20Is.
Having won the series against Australia 2-1, India will now gear up to host South Africa for three T20Is, which will be their last assignment in the format before the 2022 T20 World Cup, which gets underway next month.
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